The 2017 deer season is winding down for me, and unless I can pull it off here in the last week or so, it's looking like I might be eating my tag this year. This has hands down been one of the toughest whitetail seasons of my life, and in another blog post, I'll detail why. But for now, I'm focused on trying to make something happen in a last ditch effort.

Last Weekend...

I'm actually going to start with a bit of a backstory from my hunting last weekend. If you've been following along with me this year, you know I moved from North Dakota back to Minnesota and my hunting hasn't quite been the same since. I've spent most of time hunting in the city I live in, partaking in an "urban" hunt. Though there can be some good hunting, with my new job I just haven't had the time to hunt that I'd like. With that being said, I've mainly been hunting just one stand as each person is assigned a zone and the zone that I'm in is relatively small.

Last Friday, I was driving around in the area that I could hunt and had a big buck cross the road in front of me. He headed into an area I had been thinking about hunting that was in my zone, and after looking at it on maps, the spot made perfect sense. With that, I made in a game plan to head in there with a stand on my back on Sunday for a hang and hunt. Sunday came, and I headed into the new area with high hopes. As I was getting to the spot I wanted to hunt, I could see a pine tree that looked like the perfect place for a stand. As I got up to the tree I noticed there was already a stand in the tree, and there was fresh tracks headed right to it. Being that there's only a couple people in my zone, I kind of figured whose it was. I backed out, and went back to where I had been hunting prior.

Fast forward to the next day, and I got a text from a buddy, and after talking to a couple guys, long story short, the stand was being hunted by the guy I thought to be, and Monday morning he tagged a beauty of a buck. I ended up giving him a call, and he was actually hunting a different buck when he shot the one that he did. I got the ok from him to go set up in that tree, and being that I already wanted to hunt it, that's where I find myself now.

Going Forward

Yesterday, I went back to this tree, hung a stand, and this is going to be my last ditch effort. This spot sets up nicely as it's right on the top of a steep ridge with thick bedding all around it. I hunted it last night seeing just does. I'll be there this afternoon, and once again tomorrow morning. If I'm not able to get it done between today's hunt and tomorrow morning, I'm not sure if I'll be able to hunt again this year.

New stand that I sat yesterday, and will be sitting today and tomorrow.

This year has been a whirlwind, and simply put, it hasn't been what I wanted it to be. But that's how hunting goes sometimes. You've got to make the best of your situation, and hopefully I can make something happen in the next 24 hours.